The present invention relates to a Karaoke apparatus, and more particularly to those provided with a tone generator in the form of a musical sound synthesizer operative according to registered accompaniment information to automatically sound an instrumental or "empty orchestra" ("Karaoke" in Japanese) accompaniment during a physical vocal performance of a requested song by a singer.
Recently, the karaoke apparatus is widely popularized. The Karaoke apparatus is equipped with an audio medium such as a magnetic tape or an optical disc for recording an instrumental accompaniment part of a popular song except for a vocal performance part. The singer physically performs the vocal part, while the instrumental accompaniment part is being reproduced. A regular type of the Karaoke apparatus is installed with a mixer which mixes a physical singing voice picked up by a microphone with the Karaoke accompaniment together with a reverberation effect or else, thereby enjoying an interesting song performance. Further, an advanced type of the Karaoke apparatus utilizes a video medium such as an optical disc for displaying word information of the song as well as associated image information, in addition to the audio reproduction of the instrumental accompaniment. Such a Karaoke apparatus is more and more sophisticated in various aspects such as structure of the installed tone generator, manner by which word information is provided, and arrangement of peripheral equipments under divergent environment in amusement of the Karaoke performance.
Recently, one of the most advanced Karaoke apparatus is installed with a sophisticated tone generator, i.e., a musical sound synthesizer which is generally adopted in an electronic musical instrument or a computer music box. While the tone generator is driven according to registered accompaniment information of the instrumental accompaniment, a display device is driven concurrently according to registered word information to visually indicate song words in the form of a sequence of characters in synchronization with the automatic instrumental accompaniment. In contrast to the regular Karaoke apparatus, the most advanced Karaoke apparatus utilizes simplified accompaniment information like a text data of a musical score rather than audio information based on sampled analog waves, thereby saving a data amount and facilitating transfer and copy of the registered accompaniment information.
Generally, the conventional Karaoke apparatus is constructed such that the orchestra accompaniment of the song is continuously reproduced in straight manner from a top to a last end of the song. Therefore, the singer can select only either of a complete mode where the orchestra accompaniment is continued to the last end once the same is started, or a break mode where the continuing orchestra accompaniment is forcibly stopped to terminate the same. The same is true with respect to the most, advanced Karaoke apparatus in which the musical sound synthesizer is driven according to the registered accompaniment information, while the display device is driven concurrently according to the registered word informal ion to visually indicate the song words in synchronization with the automatic accompaniment.
However, it will be desired for better enjoyment of the Karaoke performance to achieve irregular or unusual operation such as to skip a part of the Karaoke song during the course of the automatic accompaniment to thereby shorten the entire length of the song or such as to repeat, a part of the Karaoke song. Such a special operation may attract new users of the Karaoke apparatus. Compaction of the song performance by the skip operation is frequently adopted, for example, in a commercial television program for shortening a time schedule. Therefore, the user may desire such a compaction operation of the song performance even in the Karaoke apparatus for enhancing the amusement of the Karaoke play. Further, the repeat operation of the Karaoke accompaniment may be suitable for practicing a vocal performance of a hard song.